


you give me balance

by bettyluvsjuggie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Friends, Demisexuality, F/M, Fluff, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 22:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11700909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettyluvsjuggie/pseuds/bettyluvsjuggie
Summary: Jughead was pretty much determined he wasn't interested in girls, but Betty Cooper was an extraordinary exception to that rule.





	you give me balance

**Author's Note:**

> Short one-shot loosely based on a prompt from raptorlily: Betty and Jughead as kids - Jughead is determined that he doesn't like girls, but something changes his mind about Betty.
> 
> I twisted it a bit- it’s just how it happened when I wrote it, it sort of transformed into a demi!Jughead fic, I like it though. 
> 
>  
> 
>  

 

As a kid, Jughead hadn’t been much interested in other people. For the most part, he had found the other boys insufferable and simple-minded as Jughead had absolutely no desire to toss around a football or engage in boy scouts unlike the rest of the town’s sons. Instead, from a very young age, he opted to spend his time slouched in a booth at Pop’s munching on fries and reading stories or writing his own, drinking delightfully sweet milkshakes until his stomach hurt. With the exception of his friend Archie, a cheerful bundle of red hair and boyish charm, Jughead was content to be separate from the rest of the boys in Riverdale.

However, there was one thing that Jughead liked less than boys in Riverdale; that was the girls in Riverdale. He was sure there had never been a more unbearable group of people, honestly he couldn’t stand the likes or Cheryl or Josie. Archie’s fascination with the opposite gender baffled him, always chattering on about which girls were the prettiest or which girl he had a crush on that week however, Jughead didn’t share his friend’s desire to pull the girls pigtails in hopes of catching their attention. It wasn’t just Archie either, Reggie, Chuck, Moose, Jason, Dilton… all the other the boys had this unwavering adoration, growing up and competing with each other, hoping for the girls’ affections. The only exception to the rule was Kevin, who befriended the little girls instead of doting on them like the other boys – it wasn’t a shock when Kevin came out. For a while afterwards, Jughead had wondered if he was gay too, but dismissed that idea when he was reminded of his distaste for his male peers as well. Maybe he just didn’t like anyone. He didn’t know if that was even possible, or if it meant that he was broken in some way.

But there had always been someone who caught his attention. One girl who stood apart from the rest.

When he was really little, Betty Cooper was the only girl he could stand to be around, and somehow, without his knowledge on how he’d managed it, he had become friends with her. At a first glance, they appeared to be the exact counterparts of each other: His dark raven locks were dim and dull compared with her soft golden waves, always fastened in a perfect ponytail; whilst Betty’s appearance was kept pristine and flawless, with pretty pastel coloured cardigans and unscuffed shoes, Jughead sloped around town in old battered combat boots with worn out soles and flannels covered with food stains and Betty had a smile sweeter than Riverdale’s signature maple syrup, and Jughead scowled and brooded, eternally dissatisfied with the cards that life had dealt him. But Betty Cooper didn’t seem to care about appearances, unwilling to be as shallow as the rest of the town was, already more compassionate than most of the adults despite being a fraction of their age. Jughead insisted that the stark contrast in their appearances was paralleled in their personalities: Betty was radiant sunlight and Jughead was the blackness of midnight. He swore to her that their friendship didn’t make sense, that they should surely be incompatible but she always fought with him on it.

_“No Juggie!” she’d scold him with a giggle. “It’s like yin and yang, you see? You think you’re all dark and gloomy, but there’s light in your heart, I know it. And I’m not perfect because although I bear a lot of light, there’s some darkness in me that I can’t fight off…” She’d whisper solemnly in the dim light of his treehouse, huddling to him for warmth. Then she’d look up at him with wide green eyes and remind him, “that’s the good thing about yin and yang: they balance each other out. Just like me and you, Juggie.”_

The first time she’d told him that, Jughead had known that Betty Cooper was not like other girls. In his whole life, no other girl had made his heart beat a little faster like it did when Betty smiled at him, a strange and foreign feeling knotting in his stomach. He was never prouder of himself than when one of his sardonic cracks and jokes stirred a melodious giggle from Betty. He didn’t ever look at another girl and have his mind automatically skip to the word ‘ _beautiful_ ’ like it did when his eyes landed on Betty. There was something uniquely special about her, Jughead just wished he knew what it was.

By the time they reached high school, his peers became vessels for raging hormones, and it just set him further apart. Jughead simply didn’t seem to hold the same interests as the other guys, having no desire to go to parties and make out with random girls, or join the other boys to spy on the River Vixens practicing in skimpy shorts. Or he’d thought so until Betty joined the cheerleading squad. He’d seen their uniform countless times, having attended the school for a couple of years, but the first time he’d turned the corner to see Betty sporting the royal blue attire, he’d damn near dropped his books all over the floor. Never mind when her eyes had landed on him and she’d ran up and threw her arms around him, muttering excitedly in his ear how she’d finally made the squad. Much to his embarrassment, Jughead couldn’t say he’d heard much of what she’d said with her arms wrapped around his neck, her body pushing lightly against his. He was mostly trying to concentrate on breathing like a normal person instead of hyperventilating, and hoping Betty couldn’t feel how his heart pounded inside his chest, thundering against his ribcage. For the rest of that day, for the first time ever, Jughead had felt almost like the other boys. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the expanse of exposed skin Betty’s legs were showing, unsure of how one glance at her creamy white skin made his mouth go dry.

After that day, Jughead found himself having more and more similar instances involving Betty, always accompanied with a swirling nervousness in his stomach. He had no clue how Betty could evoke such a reaction in him and yet the rest of the girls still had less than no effect on him, he barely noticed them. How could he? How could he possibly notice anyone else’s beauty when Betty Cooper’s lit up a room? When she a such a beautiful soul, such a superior mind, the other girls in his class paled in comparison.

Eventually, Jughead decided it didn’t matter. The _how_ and the _why_ were irrelevant, all he knew was that Betty Cooper awoke something inside of him that he didn’t know existed and he couldn’t stand to hide it from her anymore. That’s why one night, late in the evening, Jughead tasted the vanilla milkshake on Betty’s lips outside of Pop’s when he pressed his mouth to hers. By now, Jughead had tried to imagine what kissing Betty would feel like hundreds of times, but nothing his mind could craft would ever compare to the actual feeling of her soft pink lips moving harmoniously against his. When she pulled away breathless, Jughead let out a sigh he felt like he had been holding for years.

As a kid, Jughead didn’t like other children and when he grew up, not much really changed. But there had always been someone there to be the light to his dark, to balance him out.

Jughead didn’t like other people, he just liked Betty Cooper.

*

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought <3


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